Baby-carriage



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

0.;MARX. I BABY CARRIAGE.

No. 572,658. PatentedDeo. '8, 1896.

(No ModeL) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(LMARXQ BABY CARRIAGE.

No. 572,658. Patented Dec. 8, 1896.

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CONRAD MARX, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

BABY-CARRIAG E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 572,658, dated December 8, 1896.

Application filed fieptember 18,1896. Serial No. 606,194. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CONRAD MARX, of Brooklyn, Kings county, New York, have invented an Improved Baby-Carriage, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a baby-carriage the front wheels of which are movable vertically below the tread of the rear wheels, so that upon crossing a gutter the front wheels may be lowered to reach down to the lower street level. In this way the forward tilting of the carriage is avoided and a great difficulty experienced, especially by children and also by ladies, while pushing a carriage over a gutter is obviated.

In the accompanying drawings, Figurel is a vertical longitudinal section of a baby-carriage provided with my improvement on line 1 1, Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a sectional plan on line 2 2, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a detail of the hand-leverg Fig. 4, a front elevation, partly in section, of the baby-carriage; Fig. 5, a similar elevation showing the front axle lowered; Fig. 6, a sectional front elevation of a modification; and Fig. 7, a similar elevation of the modification,

showing the front axle lowered.

and of which a is the front and b the rear axle.

Normally the tread or ground contact-points of the front and rear wheels a b are substantially in the same horizontal plane.

If the front axle is fixed, it is therefore necessary to tilt the carriage forward in crossing a gutter, so as to permit the front wheels to descend to and contact with the street-crossing. In order to overcome this objectionable tilting, I make the front axle a vertically movable, so that the tread of the front wheels may be brought into a lower horizontal plane than the tread of the rear wheels. This result may be accomplished either by making the supports of the front axle adjustable or by making suchaxle adjustable in its supports.

In Figs. 1 to 5 the front axle Ct is carried at each end by a support or slide 0, adapted to be moved up and down in a vertical direction. Each support a is guided along the carriagebody A by means of staples c or in other similar manner. If the supports care in the upper or normal position, (full lines, Fig. 1,)

the treads of the wheels at b are substantially in the same horizontal plane; but when the supports 0 are in their lowermost position (dotted lines, Fig. 1) the tread of the Wheels (1 is considerably beneath the tread of the wheels I).

In order to operate the supports a, I attach to the axle a a pair of chains d, connected to a rearwardly-extending common chain (1, which is in turn connected to one arm of a hand-lever e, turning 011 pivot e. A pawl 6 on the lever and engaging a ratchet-segment f is adapted to lock the lever in position. When the hand-lever eis swung upward, the chains 61 d will elevate the front axle and compress a pair of springs g, which have a tendency to force such axle downward. These springs encircle guide-rods g, projecting upwardly from the side-bars or running-gear h, and bear with their lower end against aprojection c of support 0, while their upper end encounters a fixed resistance 71.

- If the pawl e is withdrawn from the ratchet and the hand-lever is thus released,the springs 9 will at once force the supports 0 and the front axle downward, so that the tread of the wheels a, descends beneath the tread of wheels I). On the other hand, if the hand-lever is swung upward the springs will be compressed and the front axle raised to return the front wheels to their normal elevation. In this raised or normal position the front axle is locked by the engagement of the pawl with its ratchet.

Of course the forces acting upon the front axle may be reversed, the springs in such case tending to raise and the hand-lever tending to depress the same.

In the modification shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the movable supports 0 are replaced by fixed supports i, attached to the carriage-body and also to the running-gear or side-bars h. These fixed supports are shown to be made tubular and engaged by plungers or slides j, to which the front axle a is attached. A coiled sprin g j is incloscd within the upper end of the tube The chains cl, connected to the front axle a, lead to a leverv or catch, as already described. When the lever is released, the front axle is lowered by the springs j, while when the lever is swung up the front axle will be raised in the manner previously described.

-IOO

The lever should be so manipulated that the front axle is lowered as soon as the front of the carriage has been pushed across a'curb, so that the front Wheels Will reach down to the crossing and thus maintain the carriage-body in a horizontal position. As soon as the carriage has crossed the gutter the front Wheels are again raised to their normal elevation.

It Will be seen that by my invention the objectionable forward tilting of the carriage is entirely avoided, and that thus the carriage may be readily controlled by a child or person of small stature.

What 1 claim is 1. A baby-carriage having front Wheels that are vertically movable and are adapted to be projected with their tread below the tread of the rear Wheels, substantially as specified.

2. A baby-carriage having a vertically-movable front axle, means for raising and lowering said axle, and Wheels mounted upon said axle, and adapted to be projected with their tread below the tread of the rear Wheels, substantially as specified.

3. A baby-carriage having a spring-actuated front axle which is vertically movable, means for moving the axle against the action of the spring, and means for locking the axle in position, substantially as specified.

4. A baby-carriage provided With a front axle, vertically-movable slides to which such axle is connected, means for raising and lowering the axle together With its slides, and means for locking the axle in position, substantially as specified.

CONRAD MARX.

Witnesses F. v. BRIESEN, XVILLIAM 301mm. 

